


Restless Energy

by canismaj0ris



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Blow Jobs, Kink Meme, M/M, Past Sex Work, Recreational Drug Use, Slight Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-08-13 06:14:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20169484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canismaj0ris/pseuds/canismaj0ris
Summary: Molly can't escape his nightmares. He hasn't slept in days, and his usual bad habits aren't helping.Thankfully Caleb has a better suggestion than mixing miscellaneous drugs and alcohol - a suggestion he is far too good at.





	Restless Energy

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of things:
> 
> 1) this is a cross posted kink meme fill, based on the prompt here: https://criticalkink.dreamwidth.org/3194.html?thread=611962#cmt611962  
The prompt was for Molly, plagued by nightmares, is given a relaxing blowjob by Caleb, and then uncovers Caleb used to do sex work for survival.
> 
> 2) this doesn't really fit any timeline for Hupperdook, but I decided I didn't care enough to sort it out, sorry!
> 
> 3) Please heed the following **content wantings: drug and alcohol abuse and discussion of sex work for survival, discussion of trauma, and referenced ritual self harm/sacrifice.**

Hupperdook was more than Molly could have ever imagined. Night after night of loud parties, endless drinking and bright fireworks - it was the perfect place to live quickly and think about the consequences later. It should have been his ideal.

Except Molly hadn’t slept in days.

The first night was spent lying awake, wondering what the hell kind of powers he’d inherited from Lucien. What the hell had Lucien been involved in, that his body knew how to remove alcohol from someone’s blood? What use did that even have, and why did he know how to do it without learning how?

What other powers were hidden in the body’s muscle memory?

This, of course, was followed by the dreams. Waking up buried under the dirt, the very weight of it suffocating him before the lack of oxygen could. Wandering along a road with no memory of who he was, or what he was doing there. Nightmares of the empty void that had existed in his mind, before the carnival had been able to refill it.

He never normally dreamed when drunk, or at least never remembered his dreams. It made him burn with a strange anxiety, the possibility that it would happen again burned through all of his thoughts for the day.

Molly needed a solution, and he was struggling to think of one that didn’t involve falling back into old habits.

In the end, he didn’t fight that urge. He picked up something from a shady looking gnome he’d found on a street corner. The dealer had promised Molly the vial of dried green leaves were the real deal, even though they looked just a little off.

He took it up to his room while his companions went down to drink for the evening. He smoked more than he normally would have, letting the heavy feeling of relaxation fall into his bones. When he finally joined the rest of the Mighty Nein below, he drank whatever was handed to him.

By the time everyone was heading to bed, he was loose and relaxed, ready for a night of complete oblivion. He felt better than he had all day, and Molly expected nothing but a peaceful night of sleep.

Until he woke up after only a handful of hours of sleep, a ritual he didn’t know on the tip of his tongue. He could smell the blood clinging to him, even though there wasn’t any.

It took him hours of lying awake to remove the images of a life he didn’t recognise from his brain, the symbols he didn’t know and the regret of his existence burning in the back of his mind.

“Maybe the alcohol is making your dreams worse?” Yasha had observed that morning, making Molly question his choices even more.

That day, Molly went back to the same area he’d met the dealer the previous night, and asked him what was the strongest, most relaxing thing he had.

The dealer handed him another vial, this time filled with a soft blue liquid, and told him to drink a quarter of it before bed. It could be mixed with anything, so he shouldn’t worry about it.

So Molly drank half of the vial, drank nothing, and hoped for a quiet, dreamless sleep.

That night he woke every hour, memories he couldn’t place filling his dreams. Twice to the feeling of dirt crushing his lungs and filling his airways.

He’d spent most of the fourth day floating on the exhaustion that was finally making his vision spin. Maybe he should have been concerned, worried that one of the drugs had some unknown side effects, but Molly was too sleep-deprived to even consider it, never mind care.

The buzzing in his limbs and the blurry echoing of his thoughts finally broke what little sense Molly had. At this point, he was considering pouring the blue liquid into the chamomile tea he was carrying with him, just to see what would happen. He could even add a shot of whiskey. Maybe smoke some of the weed to top it all off.

He should have been enjoying the partying, but by now Molly had given up on taking part.

When evening rolled around, the rest of the Mighty Nein were also beginning to wane from their multi-night bender, but a few were still determined to try and cling to their title from the Hour of Honour, even if they were a few members short.

“Well, I’m calling it a night,” he announced to the already-drinking members of his group as Fjord counted out the next round. “I have more interesting things to do upstairs.” He made sure to wink in Jester’s direction, watching her giggle to herself, throwing off any questions that his teammates could ask.

Only Yasha watched him, a look of concern on her face that Molly carefully waved away. She gave him a soft smile, reaching out to squeeze his hand as he walked past. She could see through any of his lies, but she wouldn’t push him to admit he was struggling. It was an appreciated fact of their companionship.

Once in his and Fjord’s room, Molly followed his usual ritual of wrapping his scimitars in his coat, gently placing them on the chest beside his bed, but the rest of his clothes fell into a pile on the floor. For once, he left his trousers on, too tired to deal with the laces at this moment.

Taking a deep breath, he flopped backwards onto the bed. His tail twitched in discomfort, but he didn’t move.

Maybe he should try mixing everything in his pockets together, see if it would help him have a dreamless sleep. The blue sleeping potion thing did technically stop the Lucien dreams, even if it made the nightmares worse. Maybe if he mixed the weed into his chamomile tea, and used the sleeping draught to mix it up. He could even add the skein he had leftover, see if that helped.

Of course, adding the skein would be counter-intuitive, but part of Molly was genuinely tempted to try it. It couldn’t make him feel any worse.

A soft knock made him jump, pulling him out of the blurry brain feeling he’d zoned out into.

He rolled himself over, burying his face into his pillow, his vision spinning around the edges.. “Go away, Yasha!”

There was another knock, louder and more solid. “Mollymauk?”

Caleb. Why the fuck would it be Caleb? 

“For fuck’s sake,” he huffed. “I want to see you even less!”

There was a pause, and for a second Molly assumed the Zemnian had listened to him and returned to the others.

Except Caleb decided to open the door, completely ignoring the half-growled threat. “Mollymauk? Are you alright?”

He pushed himself upwards, trying to decide where to start. “Do I look alright?”

Caleb was watching him carefully, too carefully, hovering just in the doorway. “May I come in?”

Honestly, the wizard was asking to have his throat slit. Too bad Molly had already put his swords away. “Will you actually listen if I say no?”

Caleb didn’t answer, but he did move further into the room, closing the door behind him. Fine, that’s how it would be, then. “I heard you come upstairs and thought I should come check on you. You haven’t been doing so good lately.”

Molly hadn’t even realised Caleb was upstairs instead of with the rest of the group, but he was not about to admit to that. Instead, he sighed, making a show of sitting upright on the bed, leaning back on his hands. “What are you talking about?”

“You look exhausted. You aren’t sleeping.” It was too quick a response to be anything other than certainty. “You keep missing conversations, and your tricks are getting sloppy.”

“I doubt that,” Molly bit back, watching the wizard with sharp eyes. “I’ve performed in worse states.”

Except he knew they were, of course they were, he couldn’t maintain his usual standard when he hadn’t slept more than a handful of hours these last few days. But he hadn’t expected Caleb to notice, hadn’t really expected any of them to notice. He hadn’t even realised Caleb was that perceptive.

“I don’t doubt that, Mollymauk. But they are getting worse, and you are beginning to worry me. What is the matter?”

He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“I’m more concerned that apparently, you’ve been watching me. Something you want to admit, Caleb?” The teasing lie rolled off his tongue easily, years of practice falling into place, but no match for the group wizard who was apparently on a roll.

He dropped himself on Fjord’s bed, crossing his arms over his stomach. “You can talk about whatever is happening, if you like. I’ve been told I’m a good listener.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. I just came upstairs to smoke some weed, maybe take some more skein – whatever I have lying about – and go to sleep.” He reached down to his pack at the side of the bed, resolve settling in his stomach. If Caleb wouldn’t leave him be, then he would frighten him off. “You want some?”

There was a pause while Molly pulled through his pack, pulling out the papers and the little pouch of dried green leaves he would need. He made no effort to hide any of it while he collected what he needed, before holding them out to Caleb in an open offer.

“No, no, I don’t want any,” Caleb said sharply, blue eyes watching Molly all too closely. “But you really shouldn’t mix that with anything, you don’t know what it will do, that skein was bad enough on its own.”

“Then leave, if you don’t want to be involved.” It was unnecessarily sharp, and not a good retort, but Molly wouldn’t take it back. Maybe he was losing his touch.

“I think I’ll stay right here.”

Gods, Caleb was infuriating. So he wanted to stay and monitor what Molly was doing, was that it? Make sure he didn’t do anything dangerous, but wouldn’t say that to his face?

Molly pushed himself forward on the bed, messily rolling himself a joint, trying to make it obvious that he didn’t care what Caleb chose to do. Of course he didn’t, that was ridiculous, he just didn’t want to be _babysat_ by a useless wizard when he was busy vibrating out of his own skin!

Caleb leaned forward, arms resting on his knees. “When was the last time you slept?”

“Last night, obviously.” Molly huffed, rolling his eyes. So what if it was less than three hours, total? It was still sleep.

Caleb tapped him on the foot. “For how long?” Molly didn’t give him an answer, which only made the wizard push further. “How much sleep have you had these last few days?”

Molly’s demeanour cracked ever so slightly. He pushed himself off the bed, heading to light his joint on the flickering lantern across the room, but Caleb grabbed his wrist, pulling him back down.

“You’re not moving until you answer my question.”

“Well, I guess I’m not moving then.” He held the joint towards Caleb, a wicked grin crossing his face. “Give me a light?”

The wizard didn’t react, just watching Molly carefully. For a second they stared each other down, Molly trying to look at menacing as possible versus the very human eyes opposite him.

He didn’t want to cave first, but he did. The tiredness made the edges of his vision blur, making Molly rub his eyes.

“_Fuck_,” he bit out in Infernal, making Caleb twitch at the sharp language. “_Moonweaver, save me._”

Caleb just continued to watch him, although he sat a little further back now. He reached out, taking a hold of the joint. “I don’t think giving you that is a good idea, Mollymauk. You need to take a break.”

“Take a break!” the tiefling parroted back in his best attempt at a Zemnian accent. “Take a break from what, old man? Just because you can’t keep up.”

The tiredness was cutting through his common sense, he could feel it in the back of his brain, but there was nothing Molly could do to resist it.

“You need to relax. Try and get some rest, some sleep, _something_.” Caleb huffed, shaking his head.

Molly clicked his tongue sharply, the metal bar that pierced it hitting his front teeth. “Why do you think I have that, Caleb?”

He rolled his eyes, an out of character action if Molly ever saw one. “Relax using something that isn’t an illicit substance.”

“If you can think of anything, I’ll happily take suggestions.” He was beginning to feel like his nerves were crawling under his skin. The desire to pull away from Caleb’s hand had vanished. It was the only thing holding him there, grounding his entire being.

Caleb, on the other hand, was as still and stoic as ever. His blue eyes were still mapping the endlessly red of Molly’s, even after most people would have been forced to stop.

“Talk. See if it will help.”

Whatever resistance Molly had previously had was slipping further and further into his exhaustion. He didn’t even have the energy to be irrational anymore. “I’m _exhausted_. I can’t sleep. I’ve been having nightmares, every night for days. I’m a mess! I just need it to stop.”

“What have you tried?”

“Everything I usually do,” he shrugged, head beginning to ache as his vision fuzzed over even more. “All the usual stuff, and then some. Counting sheep, chamomile tea, asking my tarot. Alcohol, weed, a sleeping draught. Everything.”

“And those haven’t worked.”

It wasn’t a question, but Molly couldn’t help biting out an answer. “Yeah, well, I’d have tried more if you weren’t holding me here, stopping me.”

It wasn’t meant as a threat, but Caleb clearly read it as one. He dropped the tiefling’s lavender wrist, immediately looking away from Molly’s face to the wall beside them.

There was a pause while he sat there, staring off into the distance, leaving Molly to contemplate what the fuck he was going to do to get himself to sleep that night. Maybe if he kept himself awake until he was completely exhausted, he’d actually manage to sleep? It could take all night, but that should work. He could try the chamomile again, mixed with the sleeping draught - that still felt like his best option. Or maybe he should just ask Yasha to knock him out, just for the certainty of it.

“I have heard that sex makes you relax.”

For a second, Molly’s thoughts fell completely silent. All he could think about was Caleb’s freckles disappeared into blotchy red.

He ran a hand through his hair, feeling it catch on the chaos of curls. “I really don’t have the energy to go and find a brothel tonight, never mind successfully fuck someone.”

Caleb was growing even redder, as impossible as that seemed. “I- I did not mean finding a brothel, Mollymauk.”

“What, are you planning on taking one for the team? _I doubt you’d even know what to do with me_,” he laughed harshly, the Infernal dripping from his tongue, thick and rough. Caleb didn’t even react, making Molly’s brain spin. He needed to be alone, quickly, before he vibrated out of his own skin. “Go to bed, Caleb. I can deal with this myself.”

“So you don’t want a blowjob?”

In Molly’s sleep-deprived brain, he was convinced the whole world stopped for a second while he tried to work out whether he was already dreaming.

“Excuse me?”

Caleb’s blush was running down his neck. It was almost endearing.

“If that is a no, I will leave you in peace.” Caleb had fallen even quieter, his accent thicker in his embarrassment. “We can pretend this never happened.”

Except Molly didn’t have an answer for him. He was exhausted and ready to try anything, but he couldn’t make the words form.

One of Caleb’s hands dropped to rest on Molly’s knee, giving it a gentle squeeze. “_Tut mir leid._ I should not have offered. I’ll still keep you company if you want, but otherwise, I will leave you in peace.”

He looked genuinely distressed, as if he’d said something terrible.

Molly couldn’t stop his tail reaching around to loop Caleb’s wrist. “I never actually said no.”

He was not at all prepared for Caleb to push himself forward, kissing him harder than he’d expected.

If Molly had been less exhausted, he probably would have pushed Caleb off and said they should talk about this. But he wasn’t thinking straight - was he ever? - and this felt surprisingly good, with Caleb’s lips solidly against his. It was messy, uncoordinated and full of teeth.

Caleb just continued to push and Molly felt like he was floating.

It was only when Caleb climbed onto his lap, an arm wrapping around his neck, that Molly considered what was happening.

“Wait, wait, wait, w- wait,” he managed between kisses, before shoving Caleb’s chest solidly. “What are you doing?”

The wizard’s lips pulled into a smirk, something Molly was not even aware he could do, and it pulled on something deep and instinctual in his stomach. “Sorry, did you want me to go faster?” He was still bright red, still quieter than Molly would have expected from the look on his face. “We can move straight to the main event if you would like?”

He had no idea that Caleb could act like this, and it slowed his thoughts even more than the exhaustion did. Maybe Caleb would be the death of him, and wouldn’t that be marvelous?

“As wonderful as that would be, darling, I meant that you’re going very quickly. Are you sure? I know you offered, but this is the first time you’ve suggested you’d want to do, well,” he gestured between the two of them, “_this._”

“Just because I haven’t suggested it before does not mean I don’t want to.”

Molly considered it for a second, considering his options. “Tell me if you change your mind?”

Caleb’s smile softened, something unreadable in his eyes. “Of course.” He pulled the tiefling in for an open-mouthed kiss. “You should as well.”

They returned to kissing, slower, returning to the feeling of each other. Molly could feel his lack of coordinating, but Caleb didn’t seem to care, continuing to pull the tiefling closer to him, a hand slipping into his hair.

Something about the continuous movement seemed to numb Molly’s brain, cooling his racing thoughts even as the buzzing under his skin slowly got worse. Nails scratched against his scalp, fingers twisting his curls tight as Caleb pulled him endlessly closer and closer.

When Caleb finally pushed him away, shoving him back against the bed, Molly was gasping for breath. He’d forgotten to breathe, forgotten to move, so lost in the buzzing feelings and how quiet his brain was after so many days.

Caleb didn’t seem immune, thank the Moonweaver. The shocking redness was fading from his face, replaced by a much softer blush, matching the way his chest was heaving under his heavy coat.

“You have too many clothes on,” Molly managed, no energy left to do it himself.

Caleb ran a hand from his hair, letting out a single quiet laugh. For a second, Molly thought he was going to refuse, but then he pulled off his coat, throwing it to the floor, before carefully removing his book holsters, or whatever the hell he wanted to call them. He pulled himself from Molly’s knees, carefully folding the leather straps around his books, before placing them on Fjord’s bed.

Molly just lay there watching him.

Caleb paused when he turned back around, watching him back. When he finally swung himself back onto Molly’s lap, the smirk had returned to his face. “You can touch me, Mollymauk.”

The explicit permission spurred Molly’s brain into action. He grabbed Caleb’s collar, pulling him down for another solid and comforting kiss, tongue slipping into Caleb’s mouth easily. His metal piercing caught on Caleb’s teeth, clacking against them in a satisfying way.

Then Caleb shifted, kissing down his jawline, down his neck, pulling a rumbling hum from the back of Molly’s throat.

Almost immediately Caleb pulled back, looking at Molly strangely. “That’s an interesting noise.” He leaned forward, nipping sharply at Molly’s neck again. “Let’s see if we can get you to make it again.”

Caleb’s teeth were blunt and solid against his neck as he alternated between soft kisses and hard bites. It made Molly’s stomach twist with warmth, head falling to the side to give Caleb more of his skin. More and more noises were being pulled from his throat, humanoid moans and growling Infernal sounds he couldn’t stop escaping.

He was barely aware of Caleb moving further down his chest, pulling on the chords of Molly’s shirt to give himself more free skin to kiss down. He could feel Caleb mouthing over his collarbone, biting down harder than he had been. Molly couldn’t hold back a moan as he imagined the marks, deeper than the eye of the peacock feather that covered it.

One of Molly’s hands moved up to Caleb’s hair, pulling on the strands at the back of his neck.

Caleb pulled back a few inches, gazing up at him through short eyelashes. “_Ja_?”

It burnt him up from the inside.

“Just- just keep doing that,” Molly managed, watching the corners of Caleb’s lips tug.

“You want me to mark marking you, then?”

A laugh broke through Molly’s brain fog. “Good luck trying - red doesn’t show up well on purple.”

Caleb’s grin pulled even wider, and Molly’s stomach dropped. Caleb took up the challenge with unexpected gusto. He trailed down Molly’s chest, tongue and lips marking out patterns between the harsh bites. They ran down the centre until his shirt got in the way. Then Caleb pushed the material up over Molly’s stomach and began nipping his way down the side of his ribs. It made Molly’s toes curl, and he had to fight the urge to dig his nails against Caleb’s scalp.

He could already feel his sharp nails on his spare hand catching on the sheets below him, tearing into the fabric.

He would thank all of the gods above that Caleb was moving down his chest quickly, fingers making even quicker work of the laces on Molly’s trousers. As soon as he pulled them over the tiefling’s hipbones, Caleb bit down hard in the indent above the bone, sucking at the skin he had caught in his teeth.

The pain fried Molly’s nerves, making his hips cant and his cock strain against his trousers. He couldn’t believe how hard he was from just foreplay to a blow job.

Caleb was going to burn through him before he even touched his cock.

Except Caleb was on the floor now, positioned between Molly’s legs. While Molly’s thoughts fractured, he had pulled Molly’s trousers off his hips so they were hanging just above his knees.

But now Caleb had completely frozen. He was intensely studying Molly’s cock, making the tiefling preen under the attention.

“Like what you see?” he laughed, watching as Caleb grimaced. “Well, there’s no need to be that rude. It’s not like you haven’t seen it before.”

“Self-consciousness is not a good look on you.”

Molly moved suddenly, propping himself up on his arms so he could see Caleb properly. “You were the one who grimaced. I happen to like my dick.”

Caleb stared back at him. “This is different.”

“What, because you’re finally seeing it up close and personal? If you’d wanted that before, you could have just asked.”

For a moment they were silent, until Caleb reached out to pin Molly’s twisting tail against the bed. “Are you ever quiet?”

Before Molly could even reply, Caleb leaned down and sucked the head of Molly’s cock into his mouth. It sent sparks of lightning up Molly’s spine, his head falling back as Caleb’s tongue expertly explored the tip. He could feel his tail trying to thrash, but still held in Caleb’s firm grasp.

Except Caleb didn’t move any further, simply laving the head of Molly’s dick with his tongue, sucking on it gently between strokes. Every handful of strokes, he pushed the tip of his tongue solidly over the slit. It made the muscles in Molly’s legs quiver, and his hips buck in tiny movements. Caleb just kept moving with them, not letting anything deter him from torturing Molly. 

It was only when Molly broke and pushed Caleb’s head down that he finally moved. He placed the hand not holding Molly’s tail onto his hips, his weight pressing through his arm. He pressed down harder than Molly thought him capable, nails digging into skin before he finally lowered his mouth around the deep purple cock.

Fucking hell, Caleb was far too good at this. It shouldn’t have been that easy for him to take all of Molly’s cock, not without build-up, but somehow he was. Molly couldn’t even look up to see if this was real, his whole body going boneless. His arms were shaking, struggling to hold his upper body up.

Molly only managed another handful of seconds before he collapsed back into the bed. At some point he had started whimpering, occasionally breaking into larger moans as he tried to adjust to the feeling.

Generally, Molly preferred to see what was happening when he had sex but something about not seeing Caleb move made the feelings more intense. His exhausted brain collapsed into the repetitive movement and feelings, giving in to the quiet darkness of exhaustion and pleasure.

It was very, very easy to fall into his feelings when Caleb was so adept at giving blow jobs. Whatever he was doing with his tongue felt amazing, laving up and down the veins on the underside, and doing a weird twisting motion that made Molly’s breath catch in his throat.

He could feel his brain collapsing into the mess of endorphins and hormones that flooded into his system, the pressure in his lower stomach building quickly.

He didn’t even try to warn Caleb about his impending release, pushing against the arm across his hips in the hope of gaining more friction. Caleb just sucked him harder, nails digging into his hip bone in an attempt to stop him moving.

Molly came with a bitten-off moan, leg muscles pulling against their awkward position. The world blurred around him, his body feeling heavy as Caleb swallowed his release, keeping the aftershocks going. He felt rung out, unsure how they had even gotten to this point, mind quiet for the first time in days.

When Caleb finally pulled back, he moved quickly up from the floor, wincing at the ache in his knees. He patted Molly’s legs, lifting one up to tell the tiefling to get onto the bed properly.

Tiredness had overtaken him quicker than he’d anticipated. He didn’t normally fall asleep after getting off, happy to keep going or at least cuddle, but his exhaustion was taking advantage of the silent calm after so long of constant vibrations.

Caleb’s knee popped as he stood up, carefully pulled the blanket out from under him, before comfortably tucking Molly into bed.

Something in the back of Molly’s brain reminded him that Caleb hadn’t gotten off at all, but he was too heavy to do anything about it.

“Try and get some sleep, Mollymauk.” Caleb was quiet, but his voice scratched uncomfortably. “I will see you tomorrow.”

Molly nodded against one of the pillows, barely aware of the world outside of his closed eyes.

A pair of lips touched his forehead, barely a kiss, but a gesture Molly had done to his companions countless times. Maybe he should have been surprised, but he couldn’t tell if it was a reality or a dream.

“Hey, Caleb?”

He sounded even further away when he answered.

“Yes, Mollymauk?”

“Where did you learn to do that?”

Maybe he shouldn’t have asked, but the question was burning in the back of his brain. He’d never thought of Caleb as a sexual being, never thought of him as anything other than a nerdy, quiet, stinky wizard, who hated physical contact that he didn’t initiate.

Except there was a pause, one which made Molly wonder whether he should have stayed silent. “Caleb?” It barely sounded like a word now, his tongue made of the soft cotton of sleep.

There were footsteps close to him, and a hand ran through his hair, brushing a few curls away from his face.

“Sometimes you have to make sure you can eat.”

Molly hummed his assent, barely aware of what was being said to him as he finally - finally - drifted into a mostly dreamless sleep.

/////

It was only the next morning that Molly realised what had happened, what had been said.

Fjord was already downstairs when Molly finally appeared to eat breakfast, feeling more awake than he had in weeks.

“Good morning, sleepyhead!” Jester called out, waving him over to the table. Most of the Nein were already there, and Yasha shuffled across to give him a seat.

“Did you finally get some sleep?” she asked carefully, quietly.

He glanced around the table, seeing everyone else had fallen back into their usual conversations. “Yeah, I did. Finally.”

She looked at him carefully, before nodding. A hand ran across his shoulders, pressing hard enough to relieve the tension of sleep.

It was only when he spotted Caleb, picking at the bacon and potatoes on the plate in front of him, that something in his brain clicked.

He may have only been two, technically, but Molly wasn’t unaware of the world. He knew it happened, knew it was always a possibility, but he honestly hadn’t considered- hadn’t thought-

Maybe Caleb’s history was worse than he’d realised. Did he even know anything about where Caleb had been before the Nein; before fate had pushed them together? How had it never come up?

And by the Moonweaver, it made his dreams of Caleb last night so much worse.

**Author's Note:**

> you can also hmu on my tumblr! [ canismaj0riswrites.tumblr.com ]  
feel free to send me prompts or requests as well :)


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